What Being a LinkedIn Thought Leader Feels Like

316 | In this episode, Dave breaks down how the best companies win by standing out through smart ideas, creative execution, and consistent attention. He pulls lessons from Drift, Savannah Bananas, and his own wins to show why ideas matter, why brand is a durable long-term advantage, and how strong content can still break through today. Plus: thoughts on AI slop, why LinkedIn can be a powerful channel when used well, leadership lessons from The Hard Thing About Hard Things, and rapid-fire listener questions on playbooks, thought leadership, and building something bigger than Exit Five.

Timestamps

• (00:00) - – Why attention became a dirty word in marketing
• (03:08) - – Personal update: hip surgery, burnout, and getting back in rhythm
• (05:08) - – The LinkedIn algorithm isn’t broken. Your content probably is
• (06:18) - – The big idea: attention is the real game in marketing
• (07:38) - – Lessons from Savannah Bananas and stealing ideas outside B2B
• (09:58) - – How Drift won by sucking the oxygen out of the market
• (12:18) - – Scrappy attention plays: billboards, protests, and founder brand
• (15:08) - – Why brand comes before product messaging
• (19:35) - – Listener Qs: playbooks, AI slop, and building real leverage
• (27:20) - – Final takeaway: stop being boring, earn attention first

Join 50,0000 people who get our Exit Five Newsletter here: https://www.exitfive.com/newsletter
Learn more about Exit Five's private marketing community: https://www.exitfive.com/

***

Today's episode is brought to you by Knak.

Email (in my humble opinion) is the still the greatest marketing channel of all-time.

It’s the only way you can truly “own” your audience.

But when it comes to building the emails - if you’ve ever tried building an email in an enterprise marketing automation platform, you know how painful it can be. Templates are too rigid, editing code can break things and the whole process just takes forever. 

That’s why we love Knak here at Exit Five. Knak a no-code email platform that makes it easy to create on-brand, high-performing emails - without the bottlenecks.

• Frustrated by clunky email builders? You need Knak.
• Tired of ‘hoping’ the email you sent looks good across all devices? Just test in Knak first.
• Big team making it hard to collaborate and get approvals? Definitely Knak.

And the best part? Everything takes a fraction of the time.

See Knak in action at knak.com/exit-five. Or just let them know you heard about Knak on Exit Five.

***

Thanks to my friends at hatch.fm for producing this episode and handling all of the Exit Five podcast production.

• They give you unlimited podcast editing and strategy for your B2B podcast.
• Get unlimited podcast editing and on-demand strategy for one low monthly cost. Just upload your episode, and they take care of the rest.
• Visit hatch.fm to learn more